Bachelor King 13: Matchmaking is For The Foolish
by creativeKing95
Summary: Spiny and Lilia are the "perfect" couple any teenager dreams of being part of. However, when Roger and Darla have a falling out, Spiny and Lilia decide to come to the rescue to relight the spark between them. But, things aren't always what they seem, right?
1. Chapter 1

When you see things around you, you don't only capture a single moment in time. You can also see their entire history in an instant. Almost like a photo of an elderly couple that is still together.

That's what I see when I visit the museum. Or to put it more specifically, the Great Sauropolis Museum and Gallery of Arts, Science, and Heritage. The GSMGASH. There's no real acronym but I like to put acronyms on everything.

Guess it's sort of a habit with me. I do it automatically.

Anyways, I was saying about time. Yes, where was I? Oh, yeah! Once in a while, when you plan to do something or set a goal there are times when…well, the result you were avoiding is exactly the result you get. Things sort of…turn against you.

Let's start from the…well, the start, obviously.

I was on a date with Lilia. We were on our way to the same museum I was talking about earlier. It was near the downtown area of the city. Under regular circumstances, there would be half-filled streets and people commuting.

But as you've seen in the previous two stories, things were anything but normal. Amarkia was still recovering from what the UN and the Amarkian rebels had done. There were several construction crews still picking up pieces of debris and returning stolen items to their place.

And occasionally, a funeral vehicle passed by.

You wouldn't understand how my heart was torn when I saw how it was possible that humans were greedy enough to do this to us.

But I don't want to start talking about that all over again. I'm trying to forget about all that. Lilia and I were walking up the steps of the Museum. Several soldiers were returning many artifacts and paintings that the UN had tried to steal.

But even with all that, there were still some people visiting the place. Once we entered the building and paid for our passes, Lilia said to me, "Well, the good thing is that things are getting normal again."

I shrugged. "I guess so. But things will never be the same. I still…sigh. Well, I don't want to stay anchored to the past. My main priority is to help the nation heal and move on." I smiled at her. "I want people to be able to overcome this and have hope, you know?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I guess no one better than you knows about that."

"Guess so."

We started walking through the museum. The first section was about Amarkia's Early History. Mostly about Amarkia's first several million years. Writing was developed quite early in Amarkian History, so pretty much always has there been written history and recorded events.

There were several fragments of ancient scrolls and codices with vivid illustrations and now-extinct languages. English wasn't always the main language. Modern Amarkian is still widely spoken and taught in schools and universities. Middle Amarkian is only known to a few prestigious professors and students. But Early Amarkian is basically an extinct language known only from some very fragmentary pieces and is currently challenging for linguistics.

"Hey, Spiny look!" she said pointing through the glass box. It a gold carving of one of Amarkia's first queens, Almestra.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "According to legend, she's the one who was once married to Ogthar of Poseidios. He was supposedly the one discovered the Black Ruby and planned to create and army of mechanical dinosaurs to invade and take over the country."

"What happened to him?"

I shrugged. "There's no written historical account of what happened, just legends."

"What does it say? The legend I mean?"

"Well, supposedly his own men turned against him and locked him into a metal prison with the Black Ruby. Then they buried it where no one would ever find it. It was buried so well that even they couldn't find it later. And they say that to this day, Ogthar is still alive in his prison in the Lost World Beneath, under the mountains."

She was staring at the artifact through the glass. "You think that all those things are true?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? I'd like to think that most legends are true. Like Atlantis or the center of the Earth."

"Well, we've been surprised before, haven't we?"

"Yeah. We sure have. Hey, speaking of surprises, I've got one for you."

"Really? What is it?"

"Do you like to swim?"

She blinked her eyes and smiled. "You want us to go for a swim?"

"Why not? It's the middle of summer, and we need a break from all the stress and with all those things we haven't spent together."

She blushed a little bit. "Well…I don't know…I mean…it might be fun."

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "It's something I'd like to try. I know I'm not really a hunk but I figured it'd be fun. What do you say?"

She smiled again. "All right. But where?"

"The pool at the Palace, of course. "

"You have a pool?"

"Yeah. It's a really big one. You can play water polo and everything. Have you ever played water polo?"

"No, not personally."

"It's just a combination of swimming and volleyball. It's really fun. I could teach you some."

"Sounds great."

After leaving the museum, we stopped at Arnold's to get a snack. We sat at our usual booth and got two ice cream sundaes. We were just talking when Roger came in. "Hey, guys," he said.

"Hi, Roger," said Lilia.

"What's up?" I said to him.

"Oh, nothing. Just hanging around. Mind if I join you?"

"Sure, sit down, man." He sat down across from Lilia and I. His hair was…well, messed up was one way to put it. "Hey, what happened?" I asked.

He stared blankly. "About what?"

"Your hair looks like it got tangled up in a giant pencil sharpener then got all the shaving and smacked them in layers."

Lilia gasped and looked at me. "Spiny! Why did you say that?"

Roger just laughed. "Oh, it's okay. Spiny's right about the hair. I did have a, uh experience on the way over here."

I sipped some hot fudge with nuts, which were by the way, simply mouth-watering. Anyways, I leaned forward and starting listening, waiting for what Roger would say next. "What?"

"Well, aren't you going to tell us?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, or do we have to hear the dirty version from the kids on the street?" said Lilia. "Ow, hey! Spiny! Why'd you nudge me in the ribs?"

"Look who just scolded me a second ago for saying that about Roger's hair," I said, sneering at her.

She tilted her head and just stared. "You said an insult, I just asked a question."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "Ah, Roger. What can I say? You gotta love her."

He agreed. "Well, all right. I'll more or less try to describe what happened. Well, I came here from Waterfall City to Steirka on the train. (Steirka is a prosperous northern suburb of Sauropolis.) Anyways, Roger continued, "So, once I was there, I took the bus to my usual stop when I visit here with you guys."

"But what's that got to do with your hair?" Lilia asked.

Roger made a gesture and said, "I'm getting there. Well, I got here quite early and I know that you guys don't usually come to Arnold's until about now. So, to kill time, I decided to go rent some rollerblades and pass the time."

"Oh, yeah, you said it's one of your favorite pastimes, right?" Lilia asked.

Roger nodded. "Right. So I was there for a good long while. I actually have a good time and talked to a lot of nice people. The time went by and I decided to get down here. So I ran out of there and stared blazing down the street. And…"

He went silent. I tell you, it was so interesting and he quieted down so quickly he sounded like a radio orchestra whose power just went off abruptly.

"And, and, and? What happened?" I asked. I mean, please! "What does all have to do with your messed-up hair?"

He lowered his head in shame. He was so low; you'd think he was a meerkat. And as Timon said, they're so low on the food chain, they're underground. Well, anyways, he didn't exactly answer in a direct, straightforward manner.

"Well…the hair wasn't all."

"Roger. What are you talking about? You've lost me."

He slowly stood up taller in his seat and took off his jacket. His was shirt was…well, try to throw your shirt to a bunch of desperate and hungry wolves and you'll see what I mean.

Lilia and I both stared completely agape. "Yeah, I uh, was coming down the street…only trouble was I still had the rollerblades on."

"You mean to tell me that you were running on that downhill street at top speed?" Lilia asked.

Roger nodded. "Yeah, and uh…"

At that moment, guess who decided to walk right in?


	2. Chapter 2

"Roger Loski, I am going to murder you!" Those words ought to be easily identifiable.

Roger immediately stood up and held his hands up in surrender. "Wait a minute, Darla! Wait!"

She stomped up to him. What she did next was completely uncalled for. She grabbed poor Roger by the scruff of the neck and POW! Right in the face. Well, three POWS. "And that's what you get for doing that!"

Roger collapsed to the ground, passing out. Then Darla turned to us. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

My mouth was still open. "What's up?! You walk in here and beat up one of my best friends unconscious, and then you say 'what's up?' What's the matter with you?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean? Nothing's the matter with me!"

Lilia crossed her arms. "Then how do you explain what you just did?"

Roger's hand appeared on the side of the table as he gripped onto it to stand up. He groaned and sat up in the booth. Whoa. Those were some pretty nasty bruises. Even Larry couldn't always manage to give me those.

"That's…that's what I was…trying…to tell…you guys," he struggled. "Coming down on the street," he wheezed, "I bumped into Darla as she was coming out of a drift store. And well…going at that speed…you can imagine what happened."

I nodded. "Yeah. Crash, right?"

He nodded. "And all the things she'd bought…well, they…fell."

"Fell? Just fell?! The new vase that my sister had put on hold six months ago broke into a thousand pieces!" Darla yelled. "And that wasn't even the worst of it."

"Then what was?" Lilia asked.

"My new skateboard! It had a nice soft leather coating and aerodynamic edges with friction-resistant tires. But then came Humpy Dumpty and the skateboard went flying into the street and got crushed by an eighteen-wheeler."

I hissed. "Yikes. That doesn't sound so good."

"Good? There went $35 of my own money! Just flew and…" she made a raspberry sound and a gesture with her hand that signified something running over something else.

Roger groaned and sighed still rubbing his face. "Hey, I said it was sorry!"

Darla threw daggers at him. Her dark black eyes were flaming with rage. You could tell. Believe me, you can really tell. "That's not going to get my skateboard back together! Sorry isn't enough!" She turned her back on him and stomped out of the restaurant.

Roger sighed and looked down at his lap. "Well," he said in a sad voice. "I guess that ruins any chances of Darla and me getting together."

"Oh, come on, Roger. Just because of a little incident?" I said, trying to soothe him. I mean, I'd never been rejected in that way, so there was no possible way of showing empathy. But I could show sympathy.

Those are two different things.

Roger smiled and shrugged. "Well, to tell you truth, I'm scared of her."

Lilia scoffed. "Scared? Come on, Roger! Just because she's always acting tough and never dresses-up or puts on lipstick or dances, that doesn't mean you can't have a nice relationship."

"Easy for you to say. You're very feminine and Spiny's charming and you're perfect for each other, like jigsaw puzzle pieces."

The waiter came over to our booth. "May I take these out of your way?" he said, pointing to our empty ice cream sundae plates. "Oh, sure," I said. He stared grabbing the plates. Roger said, "Could you get me a Blue-Plate special to go?"

"Of course," the waiter responded.

"Where you going?" Lilia asked.

Roger sighed, sounding rather depressed. "Just…to go home." He slowly trudged himself out of there.

Let me tell you, seeing Roger walk out of there really broke my heart. I mean Roger was a very kind, sensitive, courteous, and caring guy with a good sense of humor. And as for looks, well, he wasn't that ugly. I happen to know that he had his share of admirers.

But Darla wasn't exactly your ideal girl to date. I mean she and I go way back, but as friends only. You could say that we were like brother and sister. However, I could go as far as to say that we were like brother and brother. For obvious reasons, of course.

And let me tell you, Darla is not exactly the world's best dinner companion or movie partner. I mean if I had to decide between her and Kylie…well, I wouldn't go that far. Well, anyways, I saw Roger walking out of Arnold's.

I turned to Lilia and said, "You know something, baby?"

"No, what, sweetie?"

"I feel really sorry for Roger."

She sighed and put her head on my shoulder. "Yeah, so do I. I mean, you can tell that he's just so in love with that girl."

"You think she feels the same about him?"

"No…I don't think so. And especially not after today."

I shrugged. "Well, we can't do anything about it. I mean, just forcing people together never works. Especially when it's obvious that they're so incompatible."

She stared at me. "You never liked matchmaking, did you?"

I shook my head. "I HATE matchmaking. It never works, it ends in either heartbreak or embarrassment or both, and all you do is just waste time and energy."

She smiled. "I guess so." Then her cheeks turned pink in that cute way that only she knows how. Her dimples started showing. "I mean, we didn't need a matchmaker to get us together, right?"

I smiled back at her and felt my face and my body getting warm. "No, we didn't. We did it all by ourselves." I put my arm around her and pulled her closer to me. She snuggled up next to me, lying her head down on my shoulder. I felt her whole body relax and the feeling of her exhaling as she sighed into my neck.

I laughed. "Come on, Juliet. I need to get you home before your dad starts sending out the National Guard to look for us."

I paid for our sundaes and tipped the waiter as we headed out the door. Outside Arnold's I gently held on to Lilia's hand and we started walking back to our street. "Can I ask you something, Romeo?"

I laughed. "Sure. What is it?"

"Were you serious about what you said earlier?"

My eyes darted from side to side. "About what?"

We crossed the intersection from Scepter Rd onto Terrace Ave. Here, the scenery changes from small business and restaurants to suburbs. You know, homes, parks, schools. All that stuff.

"What did I say about what?"

"You know? About teaching me water polo and all that?"

Oh…uh, that. I got a little nervous and I felt my face burning. And it wasn't because of the scorching heat. I scratched the back of my head and neck with my hand. "Well…um…i-if you wouldn't mind…"

She stopped and smiled warmly at me. Then she put arms around my neck and pulled my lips into her soft, warm, pink ones. I felt sparks flying and a thousand butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

She pulled away and I stared deeply into those endless light brown irises. She looked me with an expression I'd never seen before. An expression I couldn't really read. "Does that answer your question?"

I was still in some shock. I mean, she'd never kissed me that way before. And I still was deciding what she was trying to tell me through her eyes. "I don't know," I said in an almost-whisper. "Was that a 'goodbye' kiss or a 'yes' kiss?"

She grinned. "It was a yes. I'm going to be alone in my house today. My brothers are on a field trip far and my parents won't be back till after midnight. And my sister is having a slumber party at a friend's house. I'll be waiting right after sunset."

She then kissed me passionately and ran off to her house.

Dumbfounded, shocked, and just…wow. "Hey, was that an invitation to an evening of love or was it a death sentence?" I said to myself out loud, now standing in front of the palace.

"Well, I think either way, you're dead," said a voice behind me. I whirled around to face whichever fool said his last words.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, it's you!" I glared at him.

"No, it's not me. It's Meghan Trainor," he responded.

"Don't be funny with me, Larry. I don't even like her."

He smiled mischievously. "Oh, no? But how about Rowan Blanchard? Or Cozi Zuehlsdorff? Or Taylor Blackwell? You've got a crush on those actresses, don't you?"

Okay, yes I do. But I mean every teen's got his or her celebrity crush and there's nothing wrong with that, right? However, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "For your information, bucko, I have a romantic rendezvous with the most beautiful girl in the world at her house this evening. And nothing and no one on this planet will stop me!"

"No one in the whole planet?" he asked.

I crossed my arms and nodded. "No one!"

"Huh. How about an alien?"

"What?"

"Well, you said that no one in the planet will stop you. But how about someone from another planet?"

"You're not funny, you know?" I pushed him aside and walked into the Palace Gates and into the Palace. I walked across the marble floor illuminated by the bright yellow chandelier hanging overhead.

I wiped my shoes on the floor mat and placed them in the closet near the front doors. "Spiny, is that you?" Kathy's voice yelled from down the hallway.

"Yeah, it's me. Where are you?" I yelled back.

"Living room!"

I walked down to the door on the left side of the hallway that led to the large and spacious living room. There was my sister on the sofa, her legs wrapped under her. She had her hair in a ponytail on her side. She was writing in a light green notebook with an Algebra textbook open.

"Doing last-minute review for test, right?"

"No! Of course not! I'm just studying, that's all."

"Really? Because in the last report card you have a C+ in Algebra."

"Oh, Spiny!" I sighed and walked past her. "You going to do anything this evening?"

"No, why?"

"Lilia invited me over to her house for tonight?"

Well, that certainly got her attention away from homework. "Ohhh!" In her typical-annoying-sister voice. "What'd you have in mind?"

Trying to hide the annoyance in my voice, I responded, "We're going to do some swimming in her back pool and I'm going to teach her some water polo. Then, maybe a nice formal dinner."

She started with her ohhhh and her ahhh and her teasing smile. "Sounds like things got get…really good tonight!"

"KATHY! Please, we're fourteen!"

"Love knows no age."

"Love may not know age, but passion and lust do. And I'm too young for that." I mean, sheesh! What would ever make Kathy think that…oh well. Let's just forget about it. "Listen, Kathy, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have to go up to my room to do some important work and all. Uh, could you press my dark blue suit?"

"Which one?"

"What do you mean which one?"

"Well, you have five dark blue suits."

"I do not! I only have three! Those other two are navy blue!"

"Dark blue, navy blue, what's the difference?!"

I sighed and tried to keep my temper in. "Never mind. Just any of those three. Could you press it for me please? A little while later I'm going to take a shower and get cleaned up. So could you do me that favor?"

She put her notebook aside and pulled me closer into a killer hug. "Your suit will be ready by 7:30."

I tried to pull away but she wouldn't let go. "Okay, okay. I know you love me and that I'm adorable and charming and all, but I have things to do."

She finally let go, leaving the collar of my shirt somewhat wrinkled. Just before I left the living room, she said, "Hey, Spiny!"

I turned around to look at her. "Yeah?"

"You're not that charming, you know?" she said, smiling teasingly.

I mocked laughed at her and said, "You're not funny, you know?" I left her to her studies, rolling my eyeballs. I went in my room and pulled out some important government documents I needed to look over.

I wasn't there for more than when Larry popped out of nowhere. I kept my eyes on my desk. "Hey, Larry. Where'd you come from?"

"From wandering around the earth and going through it."

"Larry, that wasn't an answer worthy of the School Clown and Practical Joker. And it isn't original."

"It isn't huh? Is this original?" He walked behind me and…AHH! I jumped out of my seat feeling the sudden cold sensation down my back. "Hey! What's the matter you?!"

"Hey, things have been dull around here. I've got nothing to do. When I get bored, I get antsy."

"Antsy to do something childish as putting an ice cube down my back?"

"Well, no. I could also fill your dress shoes with toothpaste, or smear your face with shaving cream while your sleeping, put your hand in warm water…"

"Okay, okay! That's enough. Larry, look. I have important Royal duties. Can't you let me run my country in peace?"

"Can I think about it?"

"No. You know what? Just get out of here."

"But, I want to…"

"Get out of my room!"

Larry sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Okay, all right!" He turned around and headed for the door. "Grumpy grumperson," he muttered under his breath. Well, under other circumstances I would've let him have it. But I wanted to get all that important governmental work out of the way so I could fully enjoy my date with Lilia.

Well, now that I think of it, even if it were normal circumstances I wouldn't be able to let him have it. No, he'd probably let me have it. If have any common decency of being a good friend, he'd let me beat him a few times. I mean, it's not a huge sacrifice.

Just because he's got every single super-power and ability does not give him the right to…ah, forget it! Why should I let that kind of thinking torment me?

Anyways, where were we?

What the heck was I talking about?

You see what Larry does to me?

Let me ask you something. You know what cavities can do to your teeth, right? They leave huge holes and are very painful. Well, I wouldn't know because I've never had any. But anyways, the point is that cavities cause huge problems.

So always remember to brush twice a day for two minutes, after eating candy or drinking soda. And always floss each night.

Just be careful you don't swallow the string. That happened to me once (because of Larry, of course) and it just about ruined my stomach. You wouldn't believe all the trouble that that caused. But that's not the point I'm trying to make.

You get me all confused. Stop doing that!

Anyways, after years working and living under the same roof with Larry, cavities have formed in my brain. Can you imagine what that does to brain cells? It causes you to act like a darn idiot and makes you mumble and mix up you words. You don't even know what you're saying!

So that's the consequences of being with Larry.

And let's just say that it's inevitable that his stupidity and smart-aleck personality starts to get you. Believe me, it really is contagious.

Well, anyways, I was going over some legislation that the High Assembly of Amarkia had considered and had sent me for my approval. They were not happy with all what the UN had done and wanted to charge billions of dollars in war reparations to almost the US, since most of the UN troops were American.

I mean, they did cause a great deal of physical and emotional damage, but I didn't want to open more floodgates. And yes, they would deserve to pay with their economies, but, I knew for a fact that a lot of people were also against what they did to us.

And the fact that people knew our side of the events and how we suffered and that they supported me and my loved ones made it much easier. That was enough for me. I placed my signature on the Unapproved line.

A few hours later and with a half hour of a well-deserved nap, I took a shower and combed my hair. I was still in my bathrobe when Kathy walked in with my suit. "It's ready."

"Oh, thanks, sis. Can you hang it on the doorknob?" After I finished combing my hair I got out a pair of jean shorts and a short-sleeve, red, collared T-shirt with lots of thin yellow stripes.

"Hold the phone!" Kathy yelled stopping me in my tracks.

"What? What is it?"

"I thought you said you were going on a swim date with Lilia in her pool."

"I am."

"And didn't you say you were going to have a formal dinner after you get out?"

"Yes, that's what we had planned."

"Then, may I ask why you are going to put that on?" she said, pointing at the clothes I'd just grabbed.

"I'll change into my swimming trunks when I get over there. Then I'll dry off and change into my suit. This is just for walking across the street and for whatever brief talk and milk and cookies we may have before getting in the pool."

She stood there for a good long while, just staring. Then she nodded and said, "Good thinking."

"Yes, would you kindly leave so that I can change?"

"Okay. I'll leave you now."

After she left and closed the door, I changed into the jean shorts and the T-shirt. As I changed and tidied myself up in front of the mirror, I made a mental note to myself to make sure that this date would be unforgettable.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'll be back in a while!" I yelled as I walked across the living room with my duffel bag in one hand that contained my swimming gear. In the other hand I was holding the coat hanger that had my dark blue suit, my white shirt, and the baby blue necktie with all the nice patterns.

"At what time do you think you'll be back?" Patty asked.

"I'm not sure. You don't have to wait up, because her family is out of town so I'll probably be back late. Maybe after midnight." I walked over to Greeny. He was busy with a coloring book. I patted him on the head. "I want you to be well-behaved with the girls, okay, buddy?"

"Okay, Spiny. Where are you going?"

"I'm going over to Lilia's house to spend the evening with her. When Kathy or Patty says it's time to go to bed, I want you to listen and do as they say. Okay?"

He smiled, his green-blue eyes shining. "Okay, Spiny!" I have to admit that Greeny's very cute. Well, my whole family is. They even wanted to do a cover story about us in several celebrity magazines.

"I'm going now." I went over to Patty and kissed her cheek. "Bye now."

"Bye, Spiny. Have a nice evening."

"Thanks." I went over to Kathy and kissed her cheek. "See you later, sis."

As I went past Robert, he said, "Enjoy yourself, Spiny."

"Thanks, Robert."

Larry was reading on the couch near the window. "Goodnight, Spiny."

"What do you mean goodnight? I'm not going to sleepover at her house."

"Oh no? I bet you $25 that you're going to end up sleeping over at her house."

I glared at him and stuck my hand out. "I accept that bet."

He shook my hand. "Start talking to your bank accountant to withdraw my money so I can collect."

"Yeah, well, we'll just see about that. Bye, dear family!" I stepped outside and walked down the driveway and across the street up to Lilia's door. I, uh, decided to take one last look around me and even behind some bushes and trees. Just wanted to make sure that there were no reporters or stalkers watching.

After securing the surroundings I rang the doorbell and waited on the porch. Man, it sure was hot! The sun was really hurting me. And the dryness in the air just suffocated any moisture in the air.

Finally, Lilia came and opened the door. She had her hair in a waterfall braid and was wearing jean shorts, a black spaghetti-strip tank top with a white coat. "Well, he-llo, gorgeous!" I said.

"You look pretty good yourself," she said. She leaned over to peck me on the lips. "Come on in."

"Yeah, before I dissolve from the heat." I stepped in and…ahh! Air conditioning! Believe me, the heat was that bad. Lilia led me into the living room. "Here, put your stuff over there by the TV." We sat on the couch next to each other.

I put my arm around her and pulled her closer. "So do you want to go in the pool now or later?"

"Well, how about a little bit later? Just wait till the heat gets down a little. I was watching the news and they said it's 95. But it feels like 100."

I whistled. "How about a half hour, right around sunset? How does that sound?" I suggested.

"That sounds fine."

I sat back in the couch and she rested on my arm. I started to get really drowsy. I could feel her body relaxing as she sighed sleepily. I was just about to doze off when she exclaimed. She jumped up and ran out of the living room.

Huh. What's with her all of the sudden?

Before you could say…well, I don't know. The point is that she came just as suddenly as they'd left. She came with a silver tray with a large white plate on top. She had something on it. "Hey! What's that?" I said, admiring its great smell.

"Heart-shaped homemade fudge brownies," she responded grabbing a piece of brownie and holding it to my mouth. "Open up!" she said. I smiled and opened my mouth. My stomach growled at feeling the warm, gooey chocolate on my taste buds.

"Hmm! They're pretty good!"

"You really think so?"

"Oh, yeah! It's perfect."

"You don't think it's too sweet?"

"Of course not."

"It's not too much fudge or baking powder?"

I laughed. "Lilia, it's divine! It's perfect." I set the brownie on the plate and pulled her closer to me. "Just like you," I whispered to her.

She turned pink and when she smiled, her cute dimples started showing. She put arms around my neck and kissed me briefly. "I love it that we're a couple!"

"Well, I'd be a fool not to. Look at all the great treatment I get." We kissed again; a longer, deeper kiss. I felt my stomach get tingly again and we melted in our embrace.

It would've been a perfect kiss…if the stupid doorbell hadn't rung. I ignored it. I moaned and pulled away just a few centimeters from her lips, my eyes halfway open. "Baby, could you get that? I'm busy."

She kissed me a few more seconds before she said, "So am I."

I pulled back further. "Oh yeah, that's right? Well, then in that case, how about we both go to answer," I said, purposefully trying to sound dumb.

She giggled. "Okay." We both stood up and straightened our clothes. "But you'll walk me back to the couch, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure." I grabbed her hand and walked to the door after it rang for a second time.

"Who do you think it could be?" she asked.

"I don't know, but however it is is going to be embarrassed when they find out what they just interrupted."

She gasped and put her hands on her hips. "You wouldn't!"

I laughed and peeked through the peephole. Blonde-haired girl with black sweater, torn jeans and backwards baseball cap. I opened the door. "Hey, Darla."

"Hey, guys!" she said enthusiastically. She was accompanied by a boy. He seemed to be our age and had jet black hair and brown eyes. I'd never seen him before. "Are we interrupting anything?"

"Yeah. We were necking."

"Spiny!" Lilia slapped me across the arm.

"Can we come in? It's scorching."

"Oh, sorry. Sure, come on in," Lilia said. Darla and her…companion walked inside. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Devon McClain. He's in the Chess Club at school."

I stuck out my hand. "Nice to meet you Devon."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Spiny."

"You're in the Chess Club? That's weird because I'm also in that club but I don't believe I've ever seen you."

"Well, that's simple. I'm in the morning class. You're in the afternoon."

Of course, Spiny. You could've figured that out yourself. Congratulations, you just made a fool of yourself in front of your girlfriend.

"So, what brings you two around here?" Lilia asked.

"We're looking for a special dish. Do you have any homemade lasagna?"

I scoffed and pointed at Darla. "Ha. And people say I'm a nut."

Darla ignored me and repeated the question.

To which Lilia said, "Homemade lasagna? No, but I've got some fudge brownies I just made. They're still warm and nice."

Devon and Darla looked at each other. Then they shook their heads and said, "No! Goodbye!" They headed for the door.

"Wait! Wait you guys!" I yelled. "At least have some lemonade or something."

"No, no, no. We're on the hunt for homemade lasagna and this is our 5th stop."

Devon nodded in agreement. "Yeah and we swore not to stop until we found some." Then he snapped his fingers. "Why didn't I think about it?"

"What? What?" Darla said.

"My aunt makes the best homemade lasagna of all time!"

Darla clapped her hands in triumph. "Great! Where does she live?"

"Florence, Italy," he said plainly.

Darla stood there, her previous smile frozen in time. "Well…we'll just go to Arnold's and get the Italian Dish Delight. Well, we're going now. You can resume your necking and we'll resume our lasagna hunt."

Darla and Devon said their goodbyes and ran outside, singing about lasagna. I shook my head and smiled, closing the door. And locking it. Security reasons. I sighed and looked back at my girlfriend. "Walk me back to the couch?"

"Sure." She held my hand as we walked back to the living room.

We sat back on the sofa and Lilia put herself in my embrace. We were quiet for a while, with no sound other than our slow breathing. I had my finger playing with the end of her hair when she said, "What do you think of that?"

"About what, honey?"

"About Darla. And Devon. And Roger."

"Well…Darla's a tomboy, Devon's a guy, and Roger's a friend."

"No, I'm serious. I mean…think about it. Now Darla's dating another guy and poor Roger's all by himself and depressed."

I shrugged. "Well, I'm not sure. But, like I said before, it's their problem and we shouldn't get involved. I mean, Roger and Darla aren't exactly the most compatible match in the world."

She sighed, but didn't sound all that convinced. "Guess so."

After a while she sat straight up. "Well, I guess we should get into the pool before it gets dark, right?"

I nodded. "Right. I'll go change into my swimming trunks in the bathroom."

"Okay." I got up and grabbing my duffel bag, stepped into the bathroom to change into my swimwear.

I changed them walked out into Lilia's back yard. She hadn't come out and yet and told me to wait for here there by the pool. I want to take advantage of the moment to say that I DO NOT have a ridiculous or silly-looking swimsuit. It's just a simple, dark red pair of swim trunks.

Not one of those stupid-looking white-and-striped ones that cover the entire body and make you look like you just came in from a visiting circus with poor comedians or comic relief.

Anyway, I sat on the edge of the pool and dipped my feet into the cool, refreshing water. Ahh! That felt so good! I couldn't wait to relieve my entire body from the heat in the revitalizing water.

Lilia was taking quite a while so I decided to stand up and pace around a little. Just to kill time.

I was coming back around for the 5th time when I heard a splash in the water. I stopped and stared intensely at the pool. I walked to the edge and leaned to try to see what had fallen in. Huh. I didn't see anything.

But I know I heard something splash in the water. But there's nothing. But how can nothing make a loud splash like that? But there isn't anything. But there are still ripples! Hmm. I looked around in all directions. Nothing but a well-decorated patio, plants, trees, the pool, chairs, and a fence with a door that lead to the family's farmlands and some forest.

Well, this was sure weird.

Unless I was having a really bad hallucination. They do say that people who work very hard and celebrities can go crazy…and I happen to be both. Whoa! Maybe I'm just a little off my top, but not completely.

If you really want to know what's crazy, then just meet Larry. Or Rudy. Or Dimetroodon. Or Kathy. You know, now that I think about it, out of my circle of friends, the only "normal" ones are Darla, Patty, Roger, Lilia, and I.

But the rest of them were all wacky. But believe me; all the synonyms of crazy combined don't even being to describe the introduction to Larry. He was WAY beyond crazy.

Well, anyways, I was trying to decide whether or not I'd gone crazy and was hearing things when I felt something push me into the pool.

I had no time to be surprised when I hit the surface with a backwards flip and SPLASH! Water flew everywhere while I swam up back to the surface, my hair and face drenched. I heard…laughter?

She was standing on the edge of the pool laughing so hard she wasn't far away from busting. I looked annoyed at her. "Oh, so it was you, huh?"

She looked at me innocently. "What did I do? You can't prove I pushed you into the water?"

"Oh, so my word isn't good enough?"

She tilted her head. "Not if you can't come up with a good theory."

I nodded. "Okay, I will." I swam to the edge and sat beside her. She sat down and looked intently. "How's this: When you came out, you sneaked outside quietly while my back was to you. Then you threw something into the water which would force my attention on the pool and on nothing else. You proceeded to sneak up behind me and push me into the water to which you owe those uncontrollable fits of emotion we call laughter." Then I looked at her. "How's that sound, my Dear Watson?"

She rolled her eyes around like a detective, then said, "Elementary, just nothing but pure elementary," she said, trying to use a British accent, which didn't come out so well, because she'd of Turkish and Italian descent.

I said this to her. To which she said, "Well, in that case, Luce dei Miei Occhi, you flunked your Foreign Language Class."

"What does that mean?"

"What I just said? It means that 'you're the light of my eyes' in Italian."

"Oh."

We grew silent, finally admiring one another. She had loosened her hair and was wearing a strapless baby blue bikini top and matching…well, you know…a matching set! You know what I'm trying to say.

Anyways…

I'd never seen Lilia in a swimsuit. But as I began to notice her…wow! She just took my breath away. I mean, it's not that she had lots of curves (ahem!) but she had a beautiful body. Like an angel. Actually, no. More like a goddess. A goddess of innocence, purity, chasteness, beauty, and young love.

The way she was smiling, how close she was to me, the way her hair was all loose over her shoulders…it was unlike anything I'd seen before. Before I knew what I was doing, I raised my hand to her cheek and started caressing her face. I leaned closer until our noses were touching.

"You're so beautiful," I whispered.

She blushed and smiled in that sweet, tender way that only she knows how. She laid her head on my shoulder. It felt…I don't know different. Both of us, in our swimsuits cuddled up together. My heart started lurching and my stomach got all tingly.

Then…I fell for the oldest trick in the book. She pushed me and…well, you can predict what happened.

That's right.

Splash!

But…heh heh…I managed to grab her by the arm and pull her in with me. She didn't escape from the consequences.

We swam around for a while, doing tricks and figures in and under the water. I even stood on my head under the water! Let me tell you, that is a lot harder than what it sounds. But we had a fun time. We stayed in the pool until after it got dark and turned on the pool lights. We played Marc Polo, Water Polo, Dolphin Relay, and Poison Pool Toss.

We finally grew tired (and wrinkly from being in the water so long) and we swam slowly to each other, illuminated by nothing else than the pool lights, the moon and the stars. I looked deep into her beautiful honey-brown eyes. I put my arms around her waist and she put her hands around my neck.

We embraced each other and kissed. A deep, passionate, affectionate pool kiss. She even used her tongue a little! Wow! That was new! It sent shivers all the way down my back to my feet. Then, in a quiet voice, she said, "What time is it?" I told her it was almost nine. And just like that, she jumped out of the pool and ran inside.

HUH?! What was with her now?


	5. Chapter 5

"So you mean to tell me that you almost forgot to get the meat out for the dinner?" I said, drying myself, still in my swimming trunks. Lilia was still in her bikini, doing something in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I got the meat from the butcher this morning. But I forgot to get it out of the water, like he told me to." She grabbed a huge chunk of meat with some kitchen pliers. "Well, we're saved. This meat's still good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's still good." She turned to look at me. "Why don't you get dried off and change? This is going to take just a little while?"

I nodded. "All right." I retreated into the bathroom and dried my hair and changed into clean underwear and my suit. Took about a half hour or so, but I came out feeling fresh and new.

Lilia still hadn't come downstairs. I decided to take a look in the kitchen to see how things were doing. The meat was cooking in the pan. She'd added some seasoning and garlic, green bell pepper, and onion. My mouth watered and my stomach started cramping.

Beside the stove was a….was she making tortillas? She wasn't just heating them….she was making white flour tortillas! There were several bowls in the sink and a tortilla maker beside to present as evidence.

I guess tonight's dinner was going to have a Mexican theme to it. I looked in the fridge just to see if there was anything I could chew on, even it was just cream cheese. Just until the real food came.

Wow, she was really Mexican this evening. She was making a tamarind drink. Of course, she I knew that I love those. Well, I grabbed some crackers from the closet while I went to sit down.

*Whistle!*

She had a very neat tablecloth, candles in the middle, and the plates, cups and silverware were arranged in a special order. I mean, even the napkins were neatly arranged! They were folded in a way I'd never seen. Or thought possible.

I was admiring the table when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I looked up to see a beautiful princess coming down. She was wearing a turquoise dress, and matching shoes, with blue diamond earrings.

Real blue diamonds.

Her usually straight hair was in long, wavy tresses and had a very sweet perfume that would remind you of a flower field in the spring, even on Mars. I…well; to put it in the simplest words in the modern English language…I could only smile.

I just can't describe what I felt when I saw her. I smiled in the best way I knew and slowly walked over to her. Her eyes shone in the candlelight as I put my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me.

"You look divine," I said, kissing her on her soft, pink lips.

She smiled, her cheeks flushing. "Thank you. You look so handsome and cute!" She hugged me into a bear hug and…well, she stopped just in time before my ribcage busted. Wow, this girl's strong!

"Well, excuse me for a minute, my Prince Charming, but I need to check on dinner."

She went to the kitchen while I went to sit down at the table. She'd even set up bowls with tortilla chips and hot sauce.

I smiled at the thought of that. She was going to all this trouble and hard work to please me. She wanted to make this the worlds' best dinner date. "Fajitas are almost ready!" she yelled from the kitchen.

"All right!" I yelled back. "Sure you don't need help with anything?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Well…could you get two glasses out and serve the tamarind drink?"

"Okay." I got up and went in the kitchen and grabbed two clean glasses from the sink. After I'd filled them I returned to the table to set them. I was about to say something to Lilia when the bell rang. "I'll get it!" I shouted.

I went over to look through the peephole. It's so dark I can't see. Well, of course it is, you dummy, because it's night! Turn the porch lights on! Wait, they don't work! Well, if it's a murderer…then get ready.

"Roger?!"

He smiled weakly. "Hey, Spiny. How you doing?"

"Uh…I'm…fine. How are you, Roger?" I'm in the middle of a romantic evening so get out of here!

"Who is it, Spiny?" Lilia shouted.

"Nobody, just Roger."

He pretended to look offended. "Well, thanks a lot." I still hadn't let him in. I figured he was going to say something quick and just leave. Lilia came walking to the front door. "Oh, hi Roger."

Roger's eyes popped open and his mouth dropped five feet. Okay, maybe just five inches, but you get the idea. You understand metaphors, right? Of course you do! You do, right? Ah! Never mind!

"WOW! You look…fascinating!" he said, admiring her.

I mentally kicked myself. You see, genius! You told her she looked beautiful, divine, gorgeous, but you forgot to say fascinating. Now, some other guy beat you to it! Nice going, real smooth.

Lilia looked a little shocked at Roger's response. To be honest, I was a little shocked by Roger's response. But being the nice, sweet, courteous person she is, she said, "Oh, why, thank you Roger. That's very nice of you."

Trying to sound a little bit funny, I said, "I was just telling her the same thing right now!"

Roger and Lilia laughed.

Then Lilia did what I feared she'd do. "Well, come on in, Roger."

"Oh, thanks, guys. It's really nice of you to invite in."

INVITE YOU?! You're getting in the way, that's what you are! I forced a smile. "Anytime Roger. You know I give anything for my friends." I do hope you noticed the sarcasm involved in that last statement.

Lilia said to me, "Could you show Roger to the table while I bring out an extra plate?"

I nodded but remained silent. I glared at Roger, trying to make sure he got the hint: You're not welcome right now and if you don't leave my girlfriend and I to our well-planned romantic dinner, then I'm going to bust your ribs!

Unfortunately, the fool said, "Say, Spiny, you look a little pale. Are you sick or something?"

"No, I am not sick. I'm perfectly healthy."

"Sure? The back of your neck is getting red."

I rolled my eyeballs and sighed. I grabbed another chair and placed it at the table. "Here, why don't you sit down?"

"Oh, thank you." He sat down and placed the napkin in his collar. This is where I would do a face palm. Everyone knows that the napkin goes in the lap! Well, I wasn't his mother so I wasn't about to read him a book by Emily Post.

Originally, the table had arranged so that Lilia was at one end and I was at the other. But with Roger in the middle…well, let's just say that we'd found a new way to play Monkey in the Middle.

Roger was playing with the silverware when Lilia came in with the fajitas. "Here we go! Dinner's ready!" She gave served each us the number of fajitas we wanted and the set the guacamole, the rice, and the beans in different little bowls for us to grab. Then she served herself and sat down at the other end of the table.

"Well, let's dig in," Lilia said.

I grabbed some rice and beans with the spoon and placed them beside the fajitas before I crunched one of them in my mouth. Mmm! It was so juicy and flavorey! And the meat and the chicken was seasoned just right.

"Hey, Lilia, this tastes great. Thanks!" I said.

She smiled. "I'm glad you like it! I wanted to try so hard to make it perfect so that you would enjoy it. I love making you happy."

It would've been a perfect moment…if Rogie Bogie hadn't butted in and said, "Wow, Lilia you're an amazing cook! I never knew you could prepare such a great meal!" Which he said with too much enthusiasm, I might add.

Well, the rest of the evening went on like that. I would try to start up a nice conversation with Lilia or say a nice complement, and then Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes came up with a better comment or conversation subject.

Afterwards, once we were all finished, Roger said, "Well, I appreciate you guys having me over for dinner. It's getting late, so I have to be going now."

Finally! "Well, we enjoyed having you, Roger," I said in the most honest tone of voice I could possibly speak in.

"Well, thanks again. We should do this more often," he suggested. Yeah, and you'll be playing a harp a lot sooner if you do it again.

We said our goodbyes and he grabbed his jacket and left.

Lilia and I started to pick up the dirty dishes and place them in the sink. When she was clearing the tablecloth, she said, "I really had a fun time tonight."

"Yeah, so did I. Just the four of us," I replied.

Lilia looked up at me, confused. "The four of us? Spiny, it was only you and me and Roger."

"Yeah, but I really enjoyed the four of us. Just you…and me…and Roger…and his BIG mouth!"

Lilia placed her hands on her hips. "Spiny, are you angry because Roger came in and had dinner with us?"

I scoffed. "Oh, no! Of course not! Just because he happened to come here this very night when my girlfriend gets into her best dress, curls her hair, wears her sweetest perfume, makes a wonderful dinner for two in a romantic environment with candles and all and then starts to throw compliments at every possibility and doesn't let a guy express his deepest emotions or even get a word in edgewise!" I'd started with a sarcastic tone but ended with an angry one.

I flailed my hands in the air and leaned against the wall. She was just staring at me, standing in the same place. She had her arms crossed. I could slowly see her lips twitching and form the shape of a smile. She walked up to me and laughed and hugged me.

I didn't see the funny part so I said, "Why are you laughing at this?"

She was still smiling. "Well, it's the first time in our relationship that you've shown a healthy sign of jealousy. It's better than flowers or candy." She pecked me on the lips, trying to reassure me.

I sighed. "Well…you have to understand this. I mean, it's not that I don't like Roger. He's a really great friend and a cool guy. But this was supposed to be a date. For us. Just the two of us. It was supposed to be our evening."

She nodded. "I understand. But I was just trying to be friendly."

"I know, I know. Oh, well. I guess we should be happy with what we've got, right?"

"Right. Well, seeing as how we spent our dinner as a foursome, why don't we got sit on the couch, dim the lights, turn on some nice music and spend the rest of the evening as a twosome?"

I looked at her and grinned. "Now that is a marvelous idea!"

After doing all those things Lilia just said, we were sitting on the couch, in each other's arms, silent and staring into the nothing. Soon I was getting drowsy and felt my eyelids grow heavy. I was about to doze off when her voice jolted me.

"Say, why did Roger come by anyway?"

"Hmm? Didn't you hear what he said? He'd called up 19 different girls to try to make a date with one but they all refused him."

"Oh, that's right."

As the silence took over again, I started processing some information in my mind. If Roger hadn't been refused by any of those girls he wouldn't have been lonely. And if he hadn't been lonely, he wouldn't have come down here. And he wouldn't have barged in and ruined our dinner date. As a matter of fact, if DARLA hadn't overreacted to what happened today and gotten angry at him, he wouldn't have needed to call 19 girls and be rejected by them!

Then I had a horrible thought. If Darla and Roger continue this way…then that means that every time that Lilia and I try to get together in an intimate way, then one of them is going to keep on coming and….

I sat up and looked at Lilia. She stared back. She must've been thinking the same because we both said, "We need to get them back together!"

"And quick!" she stated.

"Though it goes against my way of being and my opinion of the subject, I appoint myself Official Chief Matchmaker and appoint Lilia Woods Official Assistant Chief Matchmaker."

She giggled. "Okay, chief! So what's our first order of business?"

"To convince Darla that Roger's not a clumsy ox and convince Roger that Darla's not going to punch him in the face."


	6. Chapter 6

"And here's another one," Larry said, setting down another huge stack of papers on the desk.

"You mean there's more?"

"And that's not all. There are about 250 or more damage reports. And that's only federal and residential infrastructure. This doesn't include damage to collateral, lands, power plants, algae oil fields, factories, the environment, agriculture, water supply, border damage, and medical and archeological damages."

The air hissed out of my lungs. Even two and a half weeks since the Amarkian rebels had framed me and Lilia and nearly a month since the UN invasion, we weren't even beginning to reconstruct. We had discussed with several experts that complete repairs might take two or three years.

I was reading one of those damage reports. ….at this time. Damage to the algae oil refineries, the fuel cell generators and turbines on the wind mills is expected to be extraordinary; in excess of $3.7 million. Reparations of these areas may take in the space of 6 to 13 months.

"So…how'd it go last night?" Larry asked suggestively.

I ignored him and continued reading the report. I was reading something about the buildings where we maintain our force field machines when Larry elbowed me. So hard that he knocked the papers and the computer mouse off the table.

"Larry, please! I'm trying to run a country out of the giant black hole that greedy humans plunged us in."

"Come on, you can tell me."

I sighed. "Larry, I told you last night when I got back from her house. I told you this morning all the way through breakfast, through the drive up here up until now. It's almost lunchtime. So would please satisfy yourself with this simple answer: Nothing happened between Lilia and I. It was just a regular, sweet, intimate, romantic, innocent dinner date between two 8th graders. The only significant event was when Jabberjay walked in and ruined it. Now can we please leave last night in the past and focus on healing the gashes and broken bones that the UN and company inflicted?!"

He remained expressionless. Then he walked over to his desk and sat down. Nothing was heard in that room except for the sound of typing keys and the computer mouse clicking and occasionally piece of paper being turned.

"But you were both alone in your swimsuits," he said, shattering the peaceful silence.

I groaned and dropped my pencil against the desk. "Larry, please don't!"

"Come on, now! Don't tell me you felt…you know…something…"

"Larry…"

"Just the two of you alone."

"Larry…"

"In nothing but your swimsuits."

"Larry…"

"And in the water, kissing and skin-to-skin together."

"LARRY…"

"You were practically one step away from skinny dipping together, you know."

"WILL YOU SHUT UP, LAWRENCE!"

He stared at me with empty plates. "Now, for the umpteenth time, nothing happened. We just had some decent fun in the pool then got dressed up and had a nice romantic dinner. Or we would have until Chatterbox arrived."

He didn't say anything for a while. "Okay, I'll accept that."

"You will?"

"Sure? I accepted it since the first time you said it last night."

I felt my fists clench and my pulse accelerate. "Then why did you go on and on and make me repeat myself?!"

"Temper, temper…" he muttered.

"Oh, temper yourself!" I jumped out of my seat. As I was heading for the door, he said, "Where are you going?"

"To wherever you aren't present. I have a cabinet meeting to attend then I'm going to get some fresh air to avoid exploding into a thousand pieces!" I slammed the door behind me and walked down the dark, windowless corridor.

I looked behind me just to make sure that he wasn't following me. Convinced that I was truly alone, I walked down the hallway and went up two stories. (Remember, my office is five floors beneath the ground.)

When I arrived, all the heads of the various departments were there. Some of them were standing up and they were all lost in conversation. When they saw me, they all went silent and returned to their seats.

"Very well. Let's forget the formalities and get down to business. What's first?" I said.

The man sitting next to me, who was Head of the Department of Agriculture, said, "We have several heavy reports, Your Majesty. But it seems more concentrated in the Desert and Northern Plains region. About 45% of our corn, oats, and soybean fields were destroyed and 9% of the land is no longer arable."

He handed me the papers which officially stated the problem, but it was pretty much summed up in his words: the UN had really ruined our crop fields and put us close to being in danger of not being able to supply food for our citizens.

I skimmed through it. "What actions do you suggest?" I asked.

"We have considered cutting down on our productions of corn-based products and the similar while we undergo extensive reparation work. As mentioned in the report, that would involve in the re-creation of humus levels in the topsoil as they were before the invasion. This would involve in properly scattering biodegradable waste products, dead plant matter, and soil rotation to allow the nutrients to return to the soils."

I finished skimming over the reports and nodded in agreement. "We'll proceed with that. What's the next department?"

The woman at the end of the table, who was Head of the Department of Economics and Resources, mentioned, "Yes, we have many instances of severely depleted levels in our minerals and precious gems, especially in the Epitretari Mountains in the Sky Valley Caves, in particular.

"Levels of gold, silver, copper, zinc, iron, iron ore, natural metals, diamonds, and other materials before the invasion were on average over 6,520 lbs. per square yard. However, after the attacks, we are now down to 480 lbs. per square yard. We are still recovering swaths of material and we estimate that about 15% of the missing material is now stolen, in hands of the United Nations or the United States Government."

Well, the latter wasn't surprising.

"What could we do in this area?"

"Well, we can't really do anything to recover the stolen items. Now that it's in the possession of the US and the UN, they can use it in any way to please, like financing the wars in the Middle East or deny healthcare to their citizens.

"As for the rest, we're going to have to consider making cuts in our budget, more so in our scientific funding, and industrial relations to make sure we have enough in our defense, food supply, medical department, and other essentials."

Cuts in several areas of our budget…soil reparation that will probably take months or years…a considerable amount of our precious resources stolen…yeah, it just doesn't get better than this.


	7. Chapter 7

After getting out of the cabinet meeting, I decided to take the rest of the day. I asked Larry to take care of things down at the office and I left the Royal Governmental Office Building Complex. ROBC. Again, it doesn't officially have an acronym, but I just like making acronyms for everything.

My father was the same way.

Anyways, I walked down the sidewalk of the busy main street, contemplating my beautiful capital city. Sauropolis was truly "the ideal city of the future, past, and present."

When the first "modern" buildings were made here, they had an architectural design similar to that of Ancient Rome and Greece. As a matter of fact, before 1912 when the modern world "discovered us", the few people who did stumble upon us and left afterwards took those ideas to other cultures . That's how the Romans got their ideas of how to make their buildings.

You could say that the manifestation of our existence was present in different areas of past civilizations.

Also, most of the buildings, especially the ones that were built in the post-MA period were built mostly of marble. MA stands for Mass Extinction. The style buildings were made changed dramatically after the cosmic impact killed off all the non-Amarkian dinosaurs. And since the city was first founded, just about every building, but not all, were made and still are made with fifty-foot tall entrance and arcs so that the largest dinosaurs can enter.

As for humans and smaller dinosaurs, they can enter either through those doors or if possible, through stairways built on the sides of the buildings.

The city is situated by Pliosaur Bay. Therefore, it isn't surprising that our harbor is intricate, beautifully-designed, historically rich, and environmentally friendly. As a matter of fact, back in 1986, it was named a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, or United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (Hypocrites!)

Sauropolis is also home to some of the oldest and best schools in Amarkia, both academic and military. We also have hundreds of prosperous Amarkian businesses which contribute a great deal to the stability of the world economy.

Besides all the stuff you'd find in modern cities around the world like high-class hotels, exotic restaurants, and all that stuff, there are also theaters, places to go on the ferry, mini-cruises to go on the river, and several floating business above downtown. I guess Sauropolis wouldn't be such futuristic-looking without those!

But besides the rich heritage and culture, the intricate mix and ancient and modern infrastructure, and where everything is environmentally-friendly, Sauropolis, like all the other places in Amarkia, is proud of its citizens.

The people are courteous, friendly, and very hospitable.

As for Pliosaur Bay, it's an estuary of the Pontholo River which originates upstream in Waterfall City. Since the entire border of Amarkia is basically a continuous mountain ridge, when the river hit it, it formed a natural bay.

There are hundreds of species of marine life not found anywhere else on Earth. But there are also species which have gone extinct in modern times in other places. The bay serves as the main water supply for the city and its surroundings, for water recreation, and helps the entire southwestern portion of Amarkia remain relatively cool during the hottest days in the summer. And it keeps it mild during the winter, though at times when cold winds come down from the mountains, it interacts with the moisture to produce snow.

Well, I just wanted to give you some information about all this. You'll find out more at due time. Let's get back to the story. Where was I?

Oh, yeah.

After walking for about a half hour or so, I entered Arnold's. It was close to four o'clock and the place was about halfway filled. I went to sit down in the middle booth closest to the window.

One of the waiters came. "Good afternoon, Your Majesty. What would you like today?"

I skimmed over the menu. "Uh…let me have…let's see…can I get the dinner pizza, two hot dogs, and a side salad."

"And to drink?"

"I'll have the root beer with cherry syrup and when I get dessert I'll have a chocolate soda."

When he was finished jotting down, he said, "You said you were going to have dessert. What would you like?"

"I'll have the Small Homemade Malt. Chocolate and Black Cherry with a large slice of peach cobbler pie to go with it."

"Okay. That'll be $34.75." I opened my wallet and handed him a $50 bill.

"Keep the change."

"Oh, thank you sir!"

He left me alone to my thoughts. Which were very brief because at that moment, I saw Darla outside coming up on her skateboard and come inside. As always, she carried it with her at all times. I tell you that girl was as stuck to her skateboard as Kylie was stuck on make-up.

Anyways, Darla waved at me and came to sit across from me. "Hey, Spiny! What's up?"

I was tempted to say something sarcastic like, "You know, the ceiling, the sky, the satellites, the sun, the planes, the atmosphere, etc." But I just said, "Oh, nothing. Just enjoying life."

She set her knapsack she always carried and her skateboard beside her. Then she did something I'd never seen her do: she took her off her baseball cap. For Darla, that was huge. That'd be like Fonzie getting rid of his leather jacket. I tell you, sometimes I came to believe that Darla had glued that cap on at birth and her hair just grow out and under it. I don't think she even took it off to sleep or shower.

I wouldn't be surprised if she that thing insured.

It was insuring a lump of sugar you keep around from a past flame.

Anyways, she took off her cap and I caught myself staring. Like I said, I'd never seen her without her cap. Her golden blonde hair was in two ponytails (as usual, very tomboyish) but somehow, she seemed just the faintest bit more…feminine.

I must've been staring, because she looked at me and laughed, "Yeah, I know. I've never done it, but I'm getting sick of this burning heat."

"Oh! Yeah, it's getting pretty bad. But that's why we have our special hangout," I said, gesturing around us.

She nodded. "Yeah. So listen, I came to talk about something."

The waiter came and gave me my pizza, my hot dogs, and my root beer. "Here you are, sir."

"Thank you." I looked at Darla. "You want to eat something? I'll treat."

"Oh, no! I wouldn't impose. I'm okay." What? That was something else odd. Darla was modest in her own way and all, but she never refused an invitation to eat…and much less coming from a guy, even a friend.

What's with her today?

I forced those doubts out of my mind and responded, "You sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." The waiter left to attend another table and I said to Darla, "You okay, Darla? If you want, you can have on my hot dogs."

"Well….maybe just one."

I grabbed the plate and handed it to her. And…maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed to me that as she was grabbing it, her fingers touched mine just two seconds more than what was actually necessary.

Hmm.

She was very…not-Darla. I didn't tread on those thoughts and said, "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, about yesterday. The way I came in here angry and acted the way I did in front of everyone. I wanted to personally apologize to you for acting so childish. I mean, it's not like somebody got hurt, you know? It was just a vase. I can get another one just like it for half price."

Another thing. Darla almost never apologized for anything! Well, she didn't need to apologize for a lot of things, but when she does she tends to be quite stubborn about it. This plus the finger on the plate was starting to creep me out just a bit.

"Well, it's okay. Like you said, it was yesterday and it's in the past. Just focus on the now."

She smiled and…was she blushing?! Nah! It couldn't be. It's probably just from the heat. Yeah, it's the heat. But, wait! Am I imagining it or she…fidgeting?

"You all right, Darla?"

She looked. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged my…well, my shoulders, obviously. What else can you shrug? "I don't know you seem….kind of edgy. Like you're nervous or something."

She shook her head quickly and stammered. "N-no. I'm not nervous. Why should I?"

"I'm not sure but…you seem different."

She stared at me for a long while. Her eyes were saying…something. I couldn't exactly say what, but you could definitely say that those big, black pupils were trying to speak. She had an expression that I'd never seen before.

She suddenly got up. "I'm sorry, Spiny, but I have to go. Um…bye!" She ran out the door, bumping into a waiter and tripping him with a full load of hot chili soup.

"Wait! You forgot your hot dog!" But she couldn't hear me anymore. She got on her skateboard and disappeared from my view.

O-kay.

What just happened?


	8. Chapter 8

"Then she just left and didn't even take her hot dog with her," I said to Patty as I slid the forks under the hot water to clear the soap off.

"I wonder why she was acting that way," she stated as I handed her a plate for her to dry.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It was like she had a personality shift or something."

"And you say she was fidgeting and didn't speak much?" Kathy asked as she handed me another dirty glass. It was no regular drinking cup. It was golden glass with little blue and red diamonds around it.

I nodded. "Yeah and she was acting shy, retiring and…well, awkward, to be blunt about it."

For a while nobody said anything else. Then I noticed that Kathy and Patty were exchanging glances. I mean it. They weren't just looking at each other. You could tell each other thoughts.

Then Kathy said, "And you say she…blushed?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, finishing with the plate in her hands. "Uh-huh," she muttered.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I processed what she just said. "What do you mean, 'uh-huh'?"

"Oh nothing!"

Yeah, I'm not buying that. I turned off the faucet and dried my hands. "Kathy, I know you very well. And that was no ordinary 'uh-huh.' I know when you try to mean something but at the same time you don't. Now, what was the meaning behind that 'uh-huh'?"

Once again, she and Patty exchanged glances, as if to say, "Should I tell him or not?"

I read that expression clearly. So much so that I said, "Tell me what?"

Patty cleared her throat and leaned against the counter. "Well, Spiny, based on what you have told us so far, it seems that Darla is showing symptoms of having developed an infatuation towards you."

My heart froze and so did all my bodily functions. "Come again?"

"What Patty means is that Darla has a crush on you," Kathy said.

"I know what she meant. I'm just…what?! Darla's got a crush on me?!" My mind started to try to process what had just been said…and my neurons nearly got fried in the process. Darla? Crushing on me? That was like saying that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had gotten married!

When I finally recovered the strength to speak I said, "Darla is a tomboy, for crying out loud!"

"But she's still a girl," said Patty. "Even if she is not feminine, she is still a girl. And you're a guy."

I still wasn't convinced. "But…but, girls, think about it! I mean, Darla and I know each other since kindergarten! She's always been a tomboy! We're like brother and sister!"

Kathy sighed deeply and got the bottle of milk out of the fridge. "Spiny…you…you are a very, very, very, VERY attractive guy."

Well, I hate compliments in the middle of arguments. "So?"

"So….besides that, you're athletic, smart, sweet, gentle, and are very good when it comes to treating girls," Patty responded.

"So?" I repeated.

"So…you're what every girl in the world would want in a man. You have to realize, Spiny that even your close friends are at one point or another feel something for you. Like for example, take Amanda, Megan, Miranda, or Sophie. They're your friends, right?"

"Sure they are," I responded.

"Well, they also have crushes on you. The point is that it's very easy to fall in love with you. If I wasn't blood-related to you, I'd probably be like that."

"You're not blood-related. You're just my stepsister."

She shrugged. "Well, you know what I mean."

The three of us exited the kitchen to the Family Dining Room where Robert and Greeny had just finished cleaning the table. "When you guys finish that, I want you to go to you room to finish your homework," I said.

"I'm already done with mine," said Greeny.

"Then I want you to take a bath. Patty, will you help him please?"

"Sure. Come on, let's go, Greeny."

"If I take a bath will you give me something?" Greeny asked.

I glared at him and patted him on his behind. "I'll give you something if you don't take a bath."

"Aw, Spiny!" he whined.

After everyone else left Kathy and I went to the living room. She curled up on the loveseat in front of the TV and tuned to her favorite program. I sat in my black leather recliner. After while of saying nothing, I broke the silence. "So…you really think that Darla's got a crush on me?"

"It's not hard too, you know."

"Yeah…true. You got any ideas of how to prevent her to continue infatuated with me?"

"Well…I know you won't like the idea…but try to set her up again with Roger."

I leaned forward on the recliner and started playing with my fingers. "Yeah, I think I'll do that."

"Yeah you…wait! Did you just volunteer to match-make?!" Obviously, she knew my point-of-view on these things. I told her what Lilia and I had decided last night after Jabberjay left. "And we both agreed that we needed to get them together to make everyone happy.

She smiled. "Well…looks like I won't have to do any sneaking behind your back this time."

I laughed sarcastically. "Yes, of course. We wouldn't want to break tradition now, would we?"

When the show we were watching concluded I sprinted up the stairs to my room and dialed Lilia's number. "Lilia?"

"Hi, Spiny. What's up?"

"Well, not much to be honest. I just wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, baby. What is it?"

"Are you ready to initialize Operation Roger and Darla?"

"You really want to?"

"I have never been more certain of anything in my whole life."

"Okay, chief! I'm ready to serve this worthy cause! What's the first order of business?"

"First thing we do is a sleepover."


	9. Chapter 9

"Does 7 pm sound good?" I asked Roger.

"Sounds good. I really appreciate you inviting me to sleepover at your…well, house would be an understatement. But I guess saying palace would make me feel silly. No offense."

I laughed. "Don't worry. None taken. So it's all settled. You'll ask your parents for permission, right?"

"Sure. Though I doubt it will be necessary. But just to be a good son."

"Sounds good. So we'll talk tomorrow, right?"

"Sure, man. Thanks again. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up and yelled a silent cry of victory. Well, I'd accomplished the first part of the mission with flying colors. Now I just needed to wait and see how Lilia was going to turn out with her half of Part One.

While I waited for her to call, I went in to change into my pajamas and brush and floss my teeth. Just as I was finishing on the bicuspid molar, the phone rang. "Yeah?" I said, not even realizing that I still had a 7-inch string of dental floss hanging from my mouth.

"Well, I'm all set," she said.

"Really? She accepted to sleepover at your house?"

"Yeah, she's going to come at seven."

¬Uh-oh I guess Lilia noticed something in the silence because she said, "What's wrong?"

"Well…Roger's coming over at the same time. We can't have that."

"Why not?"

"Because if they see each other getting into our houses at the same time, they might get suspicious. And if they find out what we're up to, the whole plan goes down the guzzle."

"Hmm. You're right. I'll see if I can get her to come a little bit later. You think 7:30 is safe?"

"Yeah, I think so. Then it's all set."

"Okay, then. All set. By the way, Spiny, you don't happen to have dental floss hanging from your mouth, do you?"

HUH?! I went back to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. "How did you know?" I pulled the string out and threw it away.

"Remember, I've got two brothers."

That figures. "Well, let's wait and see what tomorrow brings."

"Okay. Goodnight, then. Love you!"

"Goodnight and l love you too."

I turned out the lights and got under the covers, confident in that our plan would be a complete….success…or failure? Well, I didn't want to dwell too much on those thoughts. I was determined to make this whole plan a success.

Larry had arrived about a half hour earlier. He came up at that moment from the kitchen and probably finishing about two-thirds of everything we had in the fridge. He must've been reading my thoughts (literally) because he mentioned, "How's the plot coming along?"

"Larry, it's hardly a plot. It's not like there's going to be victims or anything."

"Oh, no? You and Lilia are going to each invite Darla and Roger over to your respective places of residence under the pretense of a sleepover so you can teach both of them lessons in courtship so that they'll be together permanently. That way Darla will no longer be enamored with you and Roger won't be interrupting another well-planned and carefully-made nocturnal date, right?"

I stared at him, eye blinking. I tried to see if there was truly any life behind those empty eyes of his. After a careful and thorough analysis I came to the well-based conclusion that in deed, Larry may be the only living thing on this Earth that doesn't require a brain in order to survive.

Ignoring his previous lengthy—and quite frankly stupid—statement, I turned over to turn off the lamp and got under the covers ready to slip into blissful sleep and journey to Dreamland. And of course, send up a long line of Z's. Just kidding! I don't really snore.

Really. I don't snore.

If you don't believe me…well, then that's your problem, not mine. I'm going to force you to believe something, even if it's the truth. After all, you're the only one who can do that, right?

Now let me ask you something…what the heck were we talking about?!

You get me really confused, you know that?

Wait! Now I remember.

I'd turned out the lights and closed my eyes to rest up for the night. You could hear the soft summer nocturnal breeze blowing past. I'd left the doors to the balcony open to let the air in. And to save energy. Not money. We don't have to pay for any of our services.

Anyways, I was about to drift into REM sleep when the tranquility of the night was shattered by the most annoying voice in the universe. "And what are you going to do if things go…you know…backwards?"

I groaned. Loud enough so as to hint that I wanted him to shut up and go to sleep. But do you think he took the hint? No, of course not! That would not be Larry being Larry. And it's not that he doesn't know how to understand hints. He purposely ignores them and uses it as an excuse to be a pain in the neck.

"You do know that I'm going to keep annoying you until you answer me, right?"

I turned over face-up. "Larry, even if I gave you an answer to everything in the universe, you'd still be annoying."

"Probably. Now, to repeat the question, 'what are you going to do if things go backwards?'"

"How can things possibly go backwards?"

"Well, I don't know. What if for some reason you and Lilia suddenly have a big fight then stop talking to each other. Then Roger and Darla end up together. In that case, they'll be the ones trying to get you together again. Mostly because they're going to feel guilty, even if they're not."

I turned my head to face Larry. He was sitting up on his bed. "Would you stop saying stupidities for once in your life?"

"I'm serious, Spiny. This is a very delicate matter."

"Would you please stop worrying and try to be optimistic?"

"I try to be realistic, Spiny. That forces me to not be optimistic."

Ugh! I wasn't going to contend with this all night. It might be bad for my health. "Listen, dad" I said, with enough sarcasm, "I can handle this on my own. I have plenty of experience and I don't need your advice on it. Now can you please shut your mouth and let me sleep?"

I guess he finally took the hint because he didn't say anything and went under his covers.

Phew!

Arguing with Larry is…exhausting. That's the simplest way I can put it.

Well, the next day when I came home from work I parked TIV up in front of the Palace then ran back to the Palace Gates. Lilia wasn't outside, so I guessed that Darla wasn't anywhere close. I looked at my watch. 7:19

Hmm. None of them seemed to be near. It would be just ridiculous if they both suddenly showed up at nearly the same time and Lilia and I would have to quickly push them inside the come up with some lame excuse for that.

Well, this is where I should go ahead and face-palm myself. You'll never guess what happened two seconds after I had those thoughts.

At that moment, a green-yellow SUV came up in front of the Palace Gates. The guards quickly ran over to check them over. Once they saw it was safe, the opened the gates and let the vehicle enter. After stopping in front of where I was, the window rolled down on the driver's seat.

Roger's mom said, "Good evening, Spiny. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, ma'am. Thanks for asking. How is the family?"

"We're all doing great, thank goodness."

"That's good." I lowered my head and saw Roger. "Hey, man. How you doing?"

"Doing great. Well, I guess you can leave now, Mom."

"Oh, sweetie," she said as Roger stepped out the car. "Remember to brush your teeth, Roger."

"Yes, Mom."

"And wash your face and have good manners."

"Yes, Mom," he said in an annoyed tone.

"Do you want me to give you your dolphin so you can sleep with it?"

Roger's eyes got huge. He clenched his jaw and his face went from pale white to deep crimson. "MOM!"

"You don't want it then?"

"No, I don't want it! Goodnight, Mom." He grabbed his stuff and marched inside.

Well, this is certainly a great way to start. My guest was just embarrassed by his own mother in front of me and made him get in a bad mood.

Nobody said being a good friend was easy.

I tried to uplift my mind into something a little bit more optimistic and went in behind Roger.

When I stepped inside the Palace, I saw he'd gone into the living room. He was standing next to the coffee table near the TV. Patty had come in with a tray of some of her homemade peach ice cream and was offering him some.

After he'd taken a spoonful of it, he grinned and said, "Wow! That's really sweet! How much sugar do you use when you make it?"

"No more than 9 grams."

"No kidding!? Just nine grams and it's this sweet? Wow."

While he was admiring her ice cream I grabbed his duffel bag and tapped him on the shoulder. "Why don't we take your stuff up to my room? We can go to the Game Room afterwards?"

"What you got in there?"

"I got the Wii, a pool table, some mini-basketball hoops, arcade games, and lots of other stuff. Come on."

After thanking Patty for the ice cream he followed me up the stairs. We got to our room and found Larry playing with a yo-yo…hanging from the bedpost by his tail. Naturally he wasn't watching where he was looking so when we came in, he let go of the yo-yo.

"Ye-ow! Larry, why did you hit me in the face with a yo-yo?"

"Because I don't know how to handle a bowling ball yet."

"What?!"

"Nothing, nothing." He uncurled his tail from the bedpost and walked up to Roger. "How you doing Roger boy?"

"Fine thanks. Looking forward to have a good time."

Larry grinned. "Well, I'm sure you will. Especially when you find out the evil plans Spiny has in store for you."

Well, there goes the whole plan right down the toilet. I sure am glad that Lilia doesn't an annoying, sarcastic, and stupid friend like Larry to ruin things with Darla.


	10. Chapter 10

LILIA'S POV

I finished taking down the laundry and stuffed everything into the basket. Then I went inside and told Mom I'd finished with the last of my chores. I'd pretty much cramped everything into the space of two hours.

I wanted to get my room ready for Darla when she arrived. She'd texted me at noon to say that she was going to arrive at 7:15. I was really hoping that Roger wouldn't arrive at Spiny's at the same time.

I was especially hoping that Darla and Roger wouldn't bump into each other on the way. Or that Larry would do something to ruin our plans. He's the kind of guy who would do that. I don't know him that well, but what from Spiny tells me, he has unusual ways of finding time to waste in.

I was mulling in these thoughts when my older sister Rebecca snapped her fingers in front of me. "Hello? Are you there? What's wrong with you?"

I blinked my eyes and shook my head. "Huh? What?"

"Lilia, what's the matter with you? You look like you're in a trance."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that if you could help me with my make-up because Craig is picking me up at 5:30."

"Oh, sure. Isn't that a little early? Don't you have homework?" She was in summer school since she'd failed in a few subjects.

"Sure, but I'm not going to let that stop me from having fun."

"Oh, it won't huh?" my dad's voice boomed from behind her.

You should've seen the way she jumped. She was like when you sneak up behind a puppy and they jump and yelp and go flying into the wall.

Her face was flustered and her tone of voice changed completely. "Oh, hi daddy!"

I covered my face mostly to hide the laughter that was on the verge of erupting. Not to be mean, but it was kind of fun watching my siblings get in trouble since they were all in high school and all. (Advantages of being the baby of the house.)

"You were saying, Rebecca H. Woods?" Dad still had a furrow in his eyebrows and a huge opposite of a smile. Plus, his arms were crossed which is never a good thing.

"Um…um…I, uh…was saying to Lilia that I was going to start my homework early to have time to get ready for my date and enjoy it fully." She looked at me. "Isn't that right?"

I tried my best to suppress the laugh, but a small chortle escaped. "Maybe."

Dad raised his left eyebrow and stared at the both of us for a good long while. "Hmm. You have an hour to do your homework. If you haven't finished, I'm taking your cell phone away and no dates until summer school ends."

I heard Rebecca gasp quietly then gulp. "Yes, Dad. I'll do it right now."

She whispered to me, "Knock my door in an hour." She smiled at Dad for a last time then ran up to her room. Then Dad looked at me and softened his expression ever so slightly. "What were you about to do?"

"Oh, nothing. I just finished my chores and I'm getting my room for when Darla comes."

He nodded. "This wouldn't happen to be some sort of plan you and Spiny came up with, right?"

Now it was my turn to be flustered. "Oh, Daddy! Why would you think that?"

"Oh, I just heard through the grapevine that you two were trying to set up two unfortunate souls together."

Oh…great! Who was the big blabbermouth who had gone and….I had two suspects immediately. Elijah or Micah Woods. They were not the best secret-keepers in the world. The day I first met Spiny and fell in love with him, Elijah and Micah went blabbing it to their friends. And when school started two days later, it became the hottest gossip at school and remained so for the next 5,600 years until now when Spiny and I became an official couple.

Well, that wasn't my main concern now. "Well…"

"Tell me the truth, Lilia," my dad said. That always hit me. I had NEVER lied to my father in my life and I wasn't about to life. He was the first one I'd told of my feelings of Spiny that day when we finished moving in.

Anyways, I wasn't about to lie so I said, "Okay. Spiny and I are trying to get Darla and Roger together."

"I thought you said Spiny hated matchmaking."

Yeah, but not when one of them nearly kills the other who also comes later to interrupt the most wonderful date of your life.

"Well, yeah…but, Spiny and I just want them to be happy."

"Hmm. I just hope you know how to do these things. You know, even if you have good intentions, things could really get out of hand. Before you know it, you won't be able to stop it."

I know Dad was trying to help me, but I was pretty sure of what I was doing.

At least, I hope I knew. But that's just me. I'm a little stubborn, I have to admit.

"Don't worry, Dad! I know what I'm doing. Well…we know what we're doing."

He shrugged. "Well, okay. I know you'll make good decisions." After that he left to go work in his…I don't know. I guess you could call it his hobby-shop.

Anyways, I went up to help Rebecca with her make-up then after her boyfriend Craig (who is really cute but not as much as Spiny despite being older) picked her up, I went up to shower and changed into a good sleepover outfit.

I decided to wear some Jakeado pajama pants. That's an Amarkian-based company that makes clothes for teens and young adults. It's sort of our Hollister. I also decided to wear a plain light pink tank top.

I knew what Darla was going to wear: torn jeans, a plain white shirt with a jean coat, baseball cap, and boots. Well, she might not wear the boots to bed. Or would she? Well, there are tomboys and there are tomboys. And she is REALLY a tomboy from heart.

I was tempted to ask Spiny for suggestions, since he knew Darla better than I do. I mean, I know her too, but only since we became friends "by accident" in the 4th grade. She and Spiny have been friends since kindergarten.

At first I was a little hesitant. But then I saw a red 2016 Mazda driving up into our driveway I went into panic mode and texted Spiny.

"I need help!"

After a few seconds, he responded. "What's up?"

"She's here! Wht do I do? How does a tomboy act?"

"Don't worry! U'll do gr8!"

"Sure?"

"Sure. U're the best! :*. Lov U!"

I blushed and quietly squealed from delight and jumped around a little. I love him SO much! I was lost deep in dreamy thoughts so when the doorbell rang I…well, I squealed but from fright.

Who was at the door? Oh, right. Darla. The sleepover. The Plan. I put my phone on the table next to the sofa and went to answer the door. "Hey, Darla."

"Yo, Lil, what's up?" She was in a dark red leather jacket, black leather jeans, and yes, you guessed it; backwards baseball cap and boots.

I ignored the previous and smiled at my friend. "I'm fine. Won't you come in?"

"Sure. Thanks." She stepped inside in the foyer and brought in her bookbag and duffel bag. "Well, I sure appreciate it that you invited me to come over to spend the night."

"Of course. You're one of my best friends, right?"

She smiled warmly. "Of course." I led her up to my room. Just before going in, Micah came by from working out back. "Hey, Darla. How's it going, dude?"

I cringed at that. Hello! She is a girl!

But of course she didn't mind. She smiled back and they bumped fists. "Doing just cool. How's it going, man?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed in frustration. This is just like Pygmalion. Or like My Fair Lady. Would this work on a tomboy? Well, it worked on pigs! Actually…that wasn't that funny.

Micah finally left and went downstairs probably to gorge himself on Mom's homemade cranberry pie. This happened to be one of Spiny's favorites. Anyways, he left and I motioned for Darla to get in my room.

I was putting her stuff beside my bed. When I stood up, I saw Darla holding her PSP-E1000 playing some game. I have no idea what it was, but from the sounds of explosions I could tell it wasn't a racing game.

Playing a battle game….well, I sure hope Spiny is doing better than me.


	11. Chapter 11

SPINY'S POV

"Ah! NO!" Larry jumped out of his seat. The Wii Wheel with the remote went flying out of his hand and struck me in the face.

"Ouch! Would you watch it?"

"I didn't do nothing!" he exclaimed. I rubbed the spot on my face where the 6-inch black remote had struck me. I pointed at the King-sized bruise that was now forming. He tapped it with his claw. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes, it hurts!" I shouted. I slapped at his hand and knocked him off the bean bag. "Now, the next time would you please not throw the Wii Remote through the air when you lose a race?"

He crossed his arms and glared at me. "I wouldn't have lost and thrown the Remote if you hadn't hit me with a Blue Shell!"

I glared back at him. "Which wouldn't have been necessary if you hadn't fired three red shells at me, then knocked me off the track into the bottomless pit!"

"Well, why you two are busy arguing I'm in 1st place on Rainbow Road now and you're in 11th and 12th place respectively," Roger stated. We both looked at the TV screen and sure enough, Larry and I hadn't even crossed the starting line yet and were nearly a lap behind.

Larry pushed me off my bean bag and started accelerating. A few minutes later, I managed to get Mario in first place, with Roger in Yoshi finishing in 4th place and Larry in Bowser finishing in 2nd place.

Once we'd finished and waited for the next game to load I said to Roger, "So what do you want to do? We can order pizza, Chinese food, or something. Or we can go in the back and shoot some hoops."

"Sounds good," he said.

"Shoot hoops? How is that possible? Hoops don't fit in guns and I thought you used balls instead of baskets," Larry said.

I ignored his stupid comment (he didn't know any other kind to say) and said to Roger, "How about it? We can rent a movie."

"Sounds good."

After we finished three more rounds of Mario Kart, we went out back and started playing basketball. We'd been playing some one-on-one for about two hours before we finally stopped from exhaustion and sat on the ground next to the basketball hoop.

Kathy came out back (wearing a white tank top and small jean shorts, obviously with her hair in a double braid tieback) and gave us two tall glasses of lemonade. I was intending to be alone with Roger to try to entrap, I mean, uh, no! Talk with him. Just casually talk about how to win a girl's heart.

Really, I wasn't tricking him into anything. Well, anyways, Kathy sat down next to me (she and Patty have a sort-of crush on him which is not surprising considering that in between the two of them they have a crush on 1,350 guys) and I said to Roger. "Well, you sure haven't let up on your sporting skills."

"Well, I must admit that sports are my passion," he said.

Kathy leaned forward, placing her head in her hand. "Well, you should. You're in your school's soccer, basketball, swimming, and track teams." I rolled my eyes at that. Why is it that most teen girls are fascinated by athletes? I mean, I do a little bit of sports myself but I'm not a professional. I don't even keep track of scores! I just play for the fun of it.

Roger got a little flushed and said, "Well…I'm not that good. I guess it's just a way of clearing my mind. It's not easy being a fourteen-year-old sophomore. You get treated like you're less mature than others."

"Yeah, I can understand that. You have any…admirers?" I asked him.

"Mmm. Not that I know of as of now. I don't think so because high school girls always see us middle school guys as little boys, you know. They think we're less mature and we just spend time doing nothing except laughing milk out our noses, drooling over girls in bikinis or doing some other thing that expresses the male gender as degenerated."

"Well, in some ways age does relate to maturity. But not always. Seriously, I've seen girls in their late teens or early twenties acting like preteens. And I've seen preteens acting like they're in their early twenties."

"Yeah, I guess there are both ends of the extreme." He finished his lemonade and said to Kathy, "Thanks a lot for the lemonade, Kathy. It was really refreshing."

Kathy's cheeks turned pink and she said, "Your welcome, Roger. Is there anything else you'd like?"

Yeah, why don't you and Patty go double-dating with Richard and some other guy and stop trying to ruin our plan? I cleared my throat and stood up. "No, that'll be it. I think we'll be going inside now. I'll just order some pizza and breadsticks then I'll ask Robert to go rent a movie and after we shower we'll watch it in my room."

"All right. Patty and I will be in our room in case you want anything." She went back inside the Palace and Roger and I followed her after I finished my last drop of lemonade.

Once I'd ordered the pizza and sent Robert to rent a movie, Roger went to shower in the Guest Bathroom while I went in mine. After we came out, Robert returned with the movie (and no change, obviously) and we brought the pizza up to my room and played the movie.

"I sure hope you haven't got anything weird," said Larry.

"I happen to have good taste in movies." I narrowed my eyes at the jerk.

"Oh, yeah? What about the time you rented that satire movie about the maid who fell in love with the carpenter?"

"It had a good plot and lots of funny lines."

"Yeah, it was so avant-garde that I couldn't even understand the end credits."

Roger suddenly took an interest in the conversation. "Really? It was an avant-garde film?"

I nodded. "Sort of, in a way. Definitely not traditional Amarkian film."

"Do you know what that means?" Larry said to Roger. He shook his head. "Avant-garde is French for 'off-Broadway garbage.'"

Roger laughed at that. "That's a good one."

We sat back as the film started with ominous music. It was an Amarkian film from this same year. It's called If We Can Get In. It's based on a novel of the same name by a famous author called Joanna Briean. It's basically dystopian mixed with post-apocalyptic fiction and science fiction.

It tells the story through the eyes of a 16-year-old guy who faces a difficult challenge when solar storms literally cause all the electricity in the world to permanently go out and how to survive with little food, water, supplies and rising anarchy. And of course, there are plenty of action scenes, gangs of looters, and a girl who has managed to survived despite having an incapacity.

Anyways, while the movie was running, Roger got on Larry's bed (I made him go to the Guest Room) and I got under my covers and turned off the lights with only the glow of the TV illuminating the room.

I hadn't realized how late it was already was!

"So, you have a good time so far?" I asked Roger.

"Yeah, it's been great! Thanks, man!" he answered.

"Anytime, bro. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right."

We watched the movie in silence, munching on pizza and garlic breadsticks.

After a while, I said in the most casual tone of voice I could manage, "You know what this movie reminds me of?"

"No, what?"

"That it doesn't take an apocalypse to find a perfect girl and make her fall for you."

He was quiet for a while, then said, "I guess it's sort of cliché in that genre. But I suppose you're right."

I allowed for a few more seconds of silence. I mean, you have to be subtle about things like these. Then I said, "Take Lilia and I. We did go through some embarrassing moments, but not hunger and thirst and sandstorms."

"Yeah, certainly not any life-threatening situations."

Well, this is certainly going well.


	12. Chapter 12

LILIA'S POV

After we'd had dinner—orange chicken with lettuce, spinach, and red bell pepper—Darla and I went up to my room. I got into my pajamas and told her she could change in my bathroom.

"Ready to send up a long line of Z's!" she yelled when she came out.

I looked up from my journal to see what she was wearing. Then I wanted to die! She even wore leather pajamas! My goodness, what was she, the female version of Fonzie? I quickly closed my mouth to hide any shock and forced a smile. "Cool PJ's, Darla!"

"I know, right? My sister bought them for me last week. She was going to have a slumber party and I was going to show it off, but I'm glad I didn't?"

"Oh? You don't like it when she has friends come over?"

She shook her head. "All they do is gossip, mess with makeup and talk about boys. I mean, please! That's not for me. That's for girls!" I mentally face-palmed myself. I mean, she said makeup like she was talking about dog vomit. I'm not exaggerating.

"Darla, you are girl," I reminded her.

"I am? I mean, I know that, but…well, you know what I am. Makeup, dresses, parties, and boys…ah, I don't know. I'd rather hang out with the rest of the guys and do tricks on the skateboard or paint pop art."

This is where I strike!

As I played the movie we'd rented and grabbed the homemade popcorn on the night desk, I said to Darla, "Oh, come on! You're not going to tell me that you haven't come across some cute boy."

She suddenly got very quiet and sort of trying to hide her face said, "Be sensible, Lilia. That's not my style."

"Who ever said having a crush or dating had anything to do with style?"

"Oh, yeah? Ask Larry. Or Dimetroodon. Or Rudy. Or Patty."

"Larry is a jerk. Dimetroodon is too in love with science. Rudy has an abusive father. And Patty is not properly appreciated by the guys in our school. They treat her like a wallflower."

She exhaled deeply relaxing in her…well, her leather cocoon which she never seemed to get out of. "Well, that's all true. But…I don't know. I guess I just haven't found a guy who I like."

"What about that guy you were with the night Spiny was over here?"

"Devon? Well…I called him to make another date but he's never answered."

I felt my pulse freeze at hearing that last sentence. "Hold on. You asked him to go out?"

She slowly turned to look at me. "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with it, but…a lot of guys are…well, not used to that. There are guys who think it's too forward and get scared, even though they like the girl. They don't want to appear less…less male.

"Then there are others who are really egocentric and have an ego the size of Russia and are too proud."

"True," she mentioned. "But not all guys are like that. Spiny's definitely not like that."

And just did Spiny have to do with all of this, may I ask you? Is it possible that…no! It's not possible. Shame on you for thinking that about your friend!

"Well, Spiny is sort of a special his-own-category. He'd probably think it was being too forward, but he's too polite and sweet to say anything. He'd just go along with it."

"Yeah, I guess so." We were silent as we watched the movie began. The movie was A Walk To Remember. I like foreign-films. Amarkia has a huge and successful movie industry, sort of a mini-Hollywood. And to us, American films are like what European films are to Americans.

So, yeah. We consider them foreign films.

Anyways, after a while I said to Darla, "You know, sometimes I think I'm a little tomboyish myself."

"Really? How do you figure that?"

"Well…I don't wear makeup either. And I'm not really that much into fashion or trending styles or stuff like that. And I like to climb trees, discover scientific facts, read, fishing, hiking, and soccer."

I heard her chuckle quietly. "In a way, yes I would say that's being a tomboy."

"But you know what? Despite having all those qualities, I've managed to have the best boyfriend in the world."

"Every girl is green with envy, I can say that much."

I turned my head towards her. "You think so?"

"Well…I guess most are jealous. There are those simply don't like Spiny. And also, there could be others who would want him to be their boyfriend but don't want to ruin relationship."

I gave that some thought. Not just thought, but some deep, meaningful thought. "You think there are those kinds of people still?"

"I'm sure."

I laid my head back on my pillow and closed my eyes. Think, Lilia! You have to get started now! You have to be subtle. How the heck can you subtle about something like this?! Hmm. How to start that kind of talk.

"I wonder why Spiny even began to get interested in me after avoiding me for 5,600 years," I said.

"Maybe he just began to realize what a great person you really are. It just took him sometime and heartbreak to realize that. I guess he wanted to find comfort and he also found more," she stated.

"I guess so. The poor thing was so devastated when Susie told him that she didn't like him, right?"

"You kidding? Spiny cried for a whole week! I mean, for a 13-year-old, he was pretty sensitive. He still is."

"Yeah. He's very easily hurt. But what I don't understand is that he chose me. I mean, he literally could have had a million other girls. I mean, before he released his first CD two months ago he was already a world-famous heartthrob."

"That's true. Ever since Amarkia was discovered by the world back in '12, he instantly made girls faint."

I laughed. "Yeah. But he'd been doing that since way back when he started kindergarten."

"But he chose you."

I felt my face getting hot. "Yeah…he did." Every time Spiny's name mentioned or he came up in the conversation, my reaction had always been the same since I was in the 2nd grade. Concentrate, girl! This is no time for romantic fantasies. Save those for later when you go to sleep and you're unconscious. Now concentrate on getting Darla interested in Roger. How do you do that without saying his name?

"I'm going to confess something to you, Lil," she said.

My eyes popped open and I immediately prepped my ears. "Yeah, what is it, Darla?"

She sighed and sat up on the bed. "But you have to promise you won't tell anyone. You have to take an oath."

I quickly sat up. A little too quickly because some of the blood left my head. I nodded my head, only aggravating my light-headiness. "Oh, I'm sure, Darla. I'm very good at oaths."

She eyed me suspiciously. "Taking them or keeping them?"

"Both!"

"Okay, but you can't tell Spiny either."

I nodded. "All right."

She kind of hesitated, then said, "But if you do tell him, make him promise."

I laughed with just a touch of nervousness. "I wouldn't tell him. And even if I did, my oath would cover us both. Now, what was it that you wanted to confess to me?"

"I…I am in love with a guy."

I guess that shocked me, though I could see it coming. I could tell because the plate slipped from my hand and crashed on the floor.

"Everything all right up there, girls?" I heard Mom yell from downstairs.

"Yeah, Mom!" I yelled back. Then I said to Darla. "You have a crush?"

I noticed she was…blushing?! HER?! She nodded ever so slowly. I walked over to her and hugged her, trying to sound happy. "That's great, Darla! I'm so happy for you! Who is he? Do I know him?"

She stared at her fidgeting hands and hesitated. "Well…I'm not sure I want to say who he is, but you do know him."

"Do I know him well?"

She bit her lip. "Oh, come on, Darla! At least tell me that!"

"Okay, you know him very well, but that's all I'm going to say about him," she answered very quickly.

Hmm. Let's see. What guys do I know besides Spiny? There's Kenneth, Conner, Jason, Isaiah, Jeremy, Brandon, DJ, Bryce…that's all. It's got to be one of them. Can't be Roger. I won't even mention him. She's probably still mad at him. She's good at holding grudges…hmm…like me.

"If I guess, can you tell me who it is?" I asked.

She lay back on the bed. "Nope. Just that you know him very well."

"But why can't you tell me? Why…is there another girl?"

She nodded in that same slow, hesitant way.

"Does she like him?"

"Yeah, she's crazy about him. And him about her. He only sees me as a friend."

Wow! I never know all this about Darla! She really was a sensitive and emotional girl like Spiny had said. The tomboy image is only about skin-deep. Well, maybe a little thicker. She had the tomboy image and acted like one, but still with the heart of any girl.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry about that, Darla."

She shrugged. "That's okay. They are both happy and I don't want to ruin it."

"Well, that's a healthy attitude but…not if it's going to be miserable. And are you crying?"

She threw daggers at me. "No, I'm not miserable and no, I'm not crying." She sniffled.

"Darla….would you like me to help you get him?"

She looked at me as I had just said that I was giving up Spiny to give to her. She was that surprised. I mean, she literally went into a state of shock. She shook her head solemnly. "You don't know what kind of trouble that could bring."

I wasn't giving up on my friend. I was determined to get her happy. And now that I think about it, I figured out why she was crying. I'd seen it from the start. She was crying because of the way she treated Roger and now she's scared he won't like her anymore. There isn't another girl! Roger doesn't date anyone! I know that for a fact. He's…sort of a blonde, more insecure version of Spiny.

But other than that, they have the same personality. I hugged Darla again, a sisterly embrace. "I promise you that first thing tomorrow; you and I are going to work our brains out to get yourself a boyfriend. Permanently. That's a promise."

Well, I scored great! Spiny must be doing just as well or even better with Roger.


	13. Chapter 13

SPINY'S POV

"These blueberry waffles are the best breakfast I've ever had!" Roger exclaimed.

"I'm glad you like them. Spiny's mom made-up the original recipe. Then when Mom married Spiny's dad, she'd make them a lot. Especially with bacon," Kathy responded.

"They also make that same recipe with pecan, bananas, blackberries, strawberries, and chocolate chips," Larry added, his mouth half-full with waffle and bacon. He swallowed and let out a huge BURP!

"Larry!" Patty shouted.

"What? That means I like the food!"

"We're not in China, Larry," Robert stated.

"Yeah, but if I ever go there, I want to learn staring now."

"Don't bother. China and Amarkia have been bitter enemies since it became Communist and more so since the Pelapsame Wars."

"Guys, not at the breakfast table with minors present," Kathy said.

"We're all minors," said Robert.

"Just change the subject, please," she pleaded.

"So, what do you feel like doing today, Roger?" I said.

He finished chewing his waffle and said, "Uh, I don't know. What do you guys usually do?"

"Well, I don't know about, but usually during summer vacation, Spiny goes over to Lilia's and they do nothing but cuddle and smooch," said Larry.

"LARRY!"

"You going to smooch with Lilia, Spiny?" Greeny asked.

I rolled my eyes and the air hissed out of my lungs. "No, Greeny, I'm not." I looked back at Roger. "What do you say we go out on our bikes? You know, before it gets really hot."

"Sounds good."

"And maybe after we can go out to lunch then do some bowling."

"That's it?" said Larry.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "What do you mean is that it? What more do you want me to say?"

"Well, how about going to the museum, sneaking into the girl's locker at the country club, exploring the sewers, you know fun things like that."

Sometimes with Larry I just look and wonder. Other times…I just look. And sometimes…it's best not say anything. He might be reading my mind now and give me a good thrashing.

Ignoring his remark, I said, "How does that sound? Just two bachelor's on the town! Well, one. I'm already taken."

"Yeah, that makes it a lot less fun," said Robert.

"Now, Robert that's not nice. Do you know what they say the love of a good woman does?" Patty asked him.

"Yeah, it keeps you from bowling on Thursday night," Larry responded.

"Thanks for the advice, Larry. I'll be sure to not fall for any girls," Robert said. Like he really meant it.

Some breakfast. It looked as if we were discussing religion and politics. Well, anyways, we got dressed and went out in the front to get the bicycles. While we were getting them out on the front, Roger said, "You wouldn't happen to know if the library is open?"

"Mmm. I don't know. Why? You wanted to check something out?"

"Well, not anything in particular. Just something…about something."

"Wow! Really! I've never heard of that. Is it a good book…or whatever it is?"

He placed the helmet…well, on his head obviously. Where else would he put it? Anyways, he said, "Well, I need some…points on something."

"On what?" I asked, putting on my bicycle gloves.

"Eh, it kinda embarrasses me."

"It's not anything inappropriate, is it?"

"Of course not! It's just something…personal."

I finished adjusting the helmet I was wearing and tested the brakes on my bike. "You're not going to tell me? In case you haven't noticed, Larry isn't here."

"Well…" he looked all around us then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I want some pointers on how to get a girl."

"A girl?"

"Yeah, you know the opposite of boys?"

"Roger, I know what a girl is. I happen to live with two and the one across the street is my girlfriend."

"Well, you know what I mean!"

"Ah, I see. And do you think that you'll get your answers from written text?"

"Why not?"

Heh heh. Keep playing like this and you'll fall right into my…uh, no, not a trap. It's not a trap. Of course not. Where'd I ever get that silly idea? Just a plan. For everyone's benefit: to ensure that Roger has a girl, that Darla loses interest in me, and ensure that Lilia and I will be able to enjoy our dates.

"Well, I don't know," I said casually, looking away. "I just feel that in delicate matters like these, written text isn't the best way to learn."

"You think so?"

"Well, as well as the guide may be, it's too…impersonal. Inflexible."

He stared at the ground, thinking. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But where am I going to find a real-life expert on girls?"

I shrugged and got on my bike. "Guess you'll just have to do a little bit of work." I started riding down the driveway. I was about a quarter of mile up the road when Roger shouted from behind and I stopped to let him catch up.

"What is it, Roger?"

"Uh, listen, I don't want to sound forward but…um, would you give me a few pointers?"

"What?"

"Well…" he sighed and looked down. "You think you could help me win a girl over?"

I pretended to think about it. I didn't want him to think or to start suspecting that this had been my plan since the start. But I didn't want to stay "thinking" too long, because he might think I wasn't capable for the job.

Finally I said, "You really serious about this?"

"Of course I am."

"All right then." I got back on my bike. "First thing's first: who is the lucky lady?" I started down the street with Roger following close behind. "I can't tell you!" he shouted.

I made a slight veer that ran through a forested, dirt road. "Why not?"

"I just can't tell you who it is?"

I stopped by some young trees that had been planted a few years ago. I remember which ones they were because that same area of forest had been cut down to make some wood for the winter. It's law in Amarkia that three new trees have to be planted for every one that gets cut down.

Anyways, after Roger had caught up I said, "Why can't you tell me who the girl is? Don't you trust me? At least tell me if I know her."

He let out a deep sigh and looked away, almost in shame. "I…I can't. She's…she's in love with another guy."

Whoa. That was getting from the pool out into the deep, open ocean. With plenty of sharks and piranhas. Well anyways, I had to find some way of encouraging him. I certainly wasn't going to go up to Darla and say, "Hey, guess what? Roger is in love with you so please leave me and run to his arms."

I didn't get back on the bike because what I would say next would require personal conversation. "Say, how you doing in your Mechanics Class back in school?"

"How am I doing?"

"Oh, right! Its summer vacation, I forgot. Well, how were doing by the end of the year? I mean, your final grade and everything."

"Eh, pretty good, I guess. I was in the top 2% of my class."

"Hey, that's great!" I said, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Guess all those girls are going to love you with grease and everything, huh?"

He laughed. "Guess so."

Aha! I got it! "You really love doing stuff with engines, don't you?"

He nodded and pulled out a sandwich from the bad that the girls had packed for us. Isn't that sweet of them? They didn't want us to have to bother with a restaurant. Anyways, he said, "I sure do. Like music is your thing, engines are mine."

"Well, I guess if you know what you're doing with an engine you can get pretty well along with it."

"Huh?" he said, his mouth full.

"Well, you know. If you know where you stand with an engine, you can have a pretty good relationship with the engine."

You should've seen his reaction to that. He literally spit the entire sandwich out and said, "HUH?!" He had the most confused look I have ever seen in my more than 11,200 years of life. (That's 14 years for an Amarkian.)

"Ahem. Well, what I meant was that uh…you know, Roger. An engine…is kind of like a girl's heart."

He stared at me for a long while. "It is?"

"Yeah. It runs on a combination of…well, care and good attention. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, taking a sip of water.

We walked off the dirt path and sat next to some trees. "Take carburetor. That's like…a girl's emotional healthy. You have to keep that running in order to keep everything else running smoothly. Girls like to be treated and protected, not used or manipulated."

He looked away for a while then he said, "Spiny, can I ask you something now?"

"Sure. My life's an open book. Except to gossip news reporters. Then I burn the book."

"Well…why are you suddenly interested in getting me a girlfriend?"

I started panicking inside. If he ever suspected… I simply stated, "Well, didn't you just ask me a while ago to help you?"

"Yeah, I know that, but…since last night…you've sort of been hinting."

I gulped and tried my best to make sure my voice didn't break. "You, uh, you suspected something from the start?"

He grinned and raised his left eyebrow. "Well, let's just say that you could use some lessons in being sneaky. Now, why are you suddenly interested in helping me with this?"

"Well, frankly, Lilia came up with the idea of helping you."

That was weird. What happened next. The minute I said Lilia's name, he sprayed water and started coughing. I rushed over to him and patted him hard on the back. "You all right, bro?"

He raised his hand and wheezed. "Yeah…I'm fine." He wiped the water off his mouth with his sleeve. "Lilia came up with everything?"

"Well, she sort of insisted that I leave my hatred for matchmaking aside and help you get a girl. Well, now that I know you do like a girl, I can help you more."

"Yeah, but Spiny, I don't think I can tell you who she is."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I don't need to know her. I'll just give you a few pointers."

He gazed into the distance with a thoughtful…well, gaze. He suddenly got up and shouted, "Spiny, that's crazy!"

What is it with this guy? He asked me for my help nearly an hour ago and now he's saying no?! "Well, Roger! I think…I think it's your responsibility to express your feelings. Love is something that you shouldn't keep locked in. You have to know people you love how you feel about them."

He turned back to me. "You think so?"

"Sure. I mean, look at this way. An untold love, a love that hasn't been confessed is like a symphony orchestra playing in the middle of the desert. It's beautiful but…who's going to hear it?"

He bit his lip and rolled his eyes around, lost in deep thinking. "And…what do you suggest I do? Like, what do you do with Lilia?"

I stood up and paced to set my mind running. That helps me for some reason. Pacing. "Hmm. Well, I send her a different kind of flower every week. I sing to her. I write her songs, dedications, poems." I smiled to myself. "She especially loves poems."

"She does?"

"Ha! She is gaga over poems. So, do things like that."

He was thinking again. "I'm not sure I'm the poetic type."

"Well, how about writing her a letter? Look, Keiths did it. Why not Louski?"

"That's Loski."

"Yeah, Loski."

"You sure I should do this?" he asked.

"I'm positive. You'll feel a lot better and the girl too."

His expression suddenly changed from nervous and hesitant to determined. "All right. I will!"

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Thadda boy! That's the way to speak!"

"Just remember one thing, Spiny. It was your idea!"

He got back on the bike and started the way back to town. My idea? What did he mean? Was that a threat?


End file.
